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As one of the last remaining lamas to have received a complete Buddhist education in pre-1959 Tibet,[2] Tarthang Tulku left Tibet and taught in Benares, India,[2] until emigrating to the United States of America in 1969[2] with his wife, the poet Nazli Nour. After settling in Berkeley, CA they established the Tibetan Aid Project (TAP)[3] which serves the needs of the Tibetan refugee community.[3]

In 1963, Tarthang Tulku founded Dharma Publishing in Varanasi, India.[6] In 1971, the publishing house moved to California.[6] The main purpose of Dharma Publishing is to preserve and distribute Tibetan Buddhist teachings and to bring these teachings to the West.

Tarthang Tulku established the Nyingma Institute in 1972.[2] Sister organizations have been established in Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. The various institutes offer classes, workshops, and retreats based on the books of Tarthang Tulku, with the main intent of spreading the teachings of the Buddha to the West.

In 1983, Tarthang Tulku established the Yeshe De project, with the purpose of preserving and distributing sacred Tibetan texts in collaboration with the Tibetan Aid Project.[7] These texts are distributed to Buddhist monks, nuns, and laypeople at the annual World Peace Ceremony, which Tarthang Tulku started in 1990 to bring the various Buddhist communities from across Asia to celebrate together at Bodh Gaya, in India. The World Peace Ceremony and the work of Yeshe De have and the Tibetan Aid Project have resulted in over 20 million texts being given away to practitioners in the Buddhist community over the last 18 years.

Tarthang Tulku has written over 40 books covering a wide variety of topics, including:

Among Tarthang Tulku's current projects is the Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages. Also, in the fall of 2012 he opened Dharma College, "committed to igniting personal and global transformation by helping people unlock the power of their minds."[8]